Sunday, July 13, 2014

WaPo: Immigration politics may be turning against Obama and Democrats...

Democrats thought they had Republicans in a no win immigration situation going into the mid-terms and 2016. If they passed immigration reform, they alienated their base. If they didn't, they alienated Hispanics. Now the tide has turned with the recent tsunami of minors flooding across the border. If Obama sends them back, he will alienate liberals and Hispanics. If he welcomes them with open arms, he may alienate blacks and a majority of other Americans. The democrat's united front on immigration is disintegrating and the immigration focus has shifted to border security. Instead of talking about immigration reform, the discussion will be
about border security and deportation for the rest of this year. The public views Republicans as the party of strong border security.

Until now, the politics of immigration have been seen as a no-lose
proposition for President Obama and the Democrats. If they could get a
comprehensive overhaul passed, they would win. And if Republicans
blocked it, the GOP would further alienate crucial Hispanic and moderate
voters.
But with the current crisis on the Southwest border, where
authorities have apprehended tens of thousands of unaccompanied Central
American children since October, that calculus may be shifting.
Republicans and even some Democrats have accused Obama of being
insufficiently engaged in a calamity that many say he should have seen
coming.
And the president’s own party is deeply divided over what must be
done now — particularly on the sensitive question of deporting children
who have traveled thousands of miles and turned themselves in to U.S.
authorities to escape from the desperate situations they faced in countries such as Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
The emergency has also renewed questions about the administration’s
competence, reminiscent of those raised during the 2010 Gulf of Mexico
oil spill, last year’s botched rollout of the health-care law and more
recent revelations of mismanagement that jeopardized care of patients at
veterans hospitals. Keep on reading...